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a week with wolverines | espn the mag

I love gigs for this client. ESPN the Magazine sent me to follow around the University of Michigan Wolverines for a week as they entered a tough stretch of games in the BIG 10. I travelled with the team on their plane and buses all day with full access to whatever we needed. Quite refreshing access, and the University was amazing with their hospitality.

This was a part of the 1 Day 1 Game coverage for ESPN the Magazine, which comes out this week with work from a roster of really amazing photographers covering aspect of one single game against Ohio State University Buckeyes. My job was to follow them as the team travelled through the snow to Assembly Hall at Indiana University (a game they would lose) to turning around in 48 hours to battle rival Ohio State back at the Crisler Center in Ann Arbor (which they won in OT).

Game day on these shoots is insane with a huge staff of writers, editors, photographers, assistants, runners, pr folks, and any other cook you can bring into the kitchen. Everyone feeds off the challenge and peer pressure to perform, but off the clock we all bond and share war stories. It’s a big part of what I miss from the newsroom, so being able to part of that – even for a few days is always so welcoming. The Mag really embraces telling stories through every medium out there.

The week was a whirlwind for me visually, but so much fun…spending time with the players, who were all very open and great to me shoving a camera in their face for five days, was amazing. I watched the Super Bowl with them off campus at one of their homes, trudged through the snow from plane to bus at 3am, and was treated as part of the Blue family.

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4 thoughts

Great Stuff ! I played at Michigan 33 years ago and there has been some big changes ! But the pictures tell the same story ! Young athletes trying to do their best and having fun along the way ! I love how you used the colours which are so vibrant to tell your story ! Go Blue !

Great images as always Chip! Its just always a bummer when editors and companies bring in outside of Michigan (Detroit/Ann Arbor area) photogs when we have so many talented shooters right here. Sigh, such is life. I was also bummed you couldn’t make the MPPA gig and I didn’t get t meet face to face finally and buy you a beer. Some day. Keep up with the wonderful images.